Buppie

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A young, educated African American professional working in business, law, medicine, or a similar upscale career
2. An affluent young Black person employed in a white-collar profession and typically part of the urban middle or upper class
3. A Black urban professional, usually college-educated and employed in a prestigious field, often characterized by an aspirational lifestyle

Etymology: "Buppie" is a blend of "black" and "yuppie," the 1980s term for a young urban professional. The coinage follows the pattern of "yuppie" itself, which was built from the initial letters of "young urban professional" plus the "-ie" ending, so "buppie" swaps in the word "black" for the first element. Its sense is the same as its model: a young, educated, upwardly mobile city worker, here specifically a Black professional. The second source of the word is an abbreviation of "black urban professional," which was used alongside the blend. Either way, the term is a deliberate piece of wordplay that borrows the rhythm and the cheerful, slightly mocking tone of "yuppie" to name a particular group of professionals in the same decade.

Synonyms: young professional, black urban professional